Doctors at the University of Melbourne recently made an interesting discovery about the Wii Balance Board. It’s actually comparable, in their words, “clinically comparable,” to the $18,000 medical device used to help stroke victims with recovery. The Balance Board costs $99.

Researchers from the University disassembled the board to have a look at its guts, in part to determine just how useful the thing could be. As it turns out, the strain gauges in the Balance Board are good. So good they could save hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars and given smaller rehab facilities the tools to help a wider variety of patients. “I was shocked given the price: it was an extremely impressive strain gauge set-up,” lead researcher Ross Clark told New Scientist. Clark and his team published a paper verifying the quality of the Balance Board as a medical device.